While I am waiting for a professional appraisal for my Black Beauty, I thought that I would go ahead and see if I can get an acceptable offer for my 1978/1980 Ludwig Classics maple finish 5-piece kit. Actually it is a 4-piece (toms and kick drum), but I am including a mid-1990's maple Pearl piccolo snare.

Here are the details:

1) You can see that they are standard depth, maple finish Ludwig Classics with blue and olive badges. The drum on top of the stack in the attached picture is a Pearl 3" x 13" piccolo snare, a very basic model that I would include.

2) Badge numbers - 12" Tom-1931190; 13" Tom-1946762; 16" Floor Tom-1646762; 22" Kick-1956802. Conn-Selmer confirmed that these were made in either 1978 or 1979, making the shell construction of maple outer and inner plies with poplar in between.

3) All original parts, except for the rack tom mounting brackets (I still have the originals on hand, which are replaced with Ludwig brackets that are almost identical to the originals), the tom mount (replaced after the original Ludwig tom mount broke with a Gibraltar mount that has ball and socket L-rods for the adjutments) and the collars for the bass drum legs (the originals cracked and have been replaced with almost identical Ludwig collars). No additional holes were added and no existing holes were altered for the new brackets and collars to fit.

4) There are some small surface nicks and scuffs here and there on the kit, but you have to get very close to see them. There is some grime on the kick drum hoop where the pedal was attached and on the portions that sat on the floor. Overall, the visible finish looks very good.

5) I removed the internal mufflers on the toms because I found no use for them for my sound, and they rattled when they were just left loose. I got rid of the mufflers, but I kept the knobs and the holding screws in place so there wouldn't be any cosmetic holes in the shells. I put thick rubber washers and the mufflers' cylindrical nuts on the threaded shaft of the mufflers' knobs to hold them securely and prevent any buzzes or rattles.

Overall, the kit looks great and sounds great. I recorded three CDs between 2002 and 2005 with them. And we are talking progressive rock, progressive metal and straight ahead rock. Two of these CDs were with a very picky producer, so the drums must have been really good to please his taste.

By the way, I am the original owner of this kit, having put it on layaway in 1979 and finally picking it up in early 1980. As with everything, I take very good care of this kit. The main reason that I am looking to sell it is because I have newer and larger kit, and I am just not a collector.

In addition to the drums and tom mount listed above, I do have a Hercules snare stand that I will include. It is a little beat, but it's free with the kit. And for the right offer, I will include a Ludwig double bass pedal (see picture), which is in very good condition, and a set of soft cases (toms and snare cases are deeper than the drums because I bought them with the intention of using them on two different kits that had toms with different depths). I can also include a Gibralatar cymbal stand base that can be used to mount the rack toms off to the side.

Take a look at the pictures, see what you think and make me an offer via Private Message or e-mail if you are interested. I must inform everyone that this set could be gone within a few days to a week if a nearby dealer, that has voiced some interest, makes me an acceptable offer. But let's see what happens here.